One of Western Australia’s oldest inns, the Albany Hotel, is on the market for $2.95 million.
Albany is WA’s oldest European settlement, found at the southern tip of Australia’s largest state, around 420km south-east of Perth on the shores of Shoal Bay, letting to the Indian Ocean.
The hotel sits on the main commercial strip and began its life serving passengers travelling by ship.
The two-storey heritage-listed building was constructed in 1852. For a while it was known as the Horse and Groom, before returning to the name Albany Hotel in 1892. Over the years it had many licensees and went by several other names including the Freemasons Hotel and the Old Stone Jug.
Records date back to 1836 when the site was first granted a liquor licence.
“It is one of the oldest still existing licensed hotels in Albany and one of the first built,” says West Australia’s Heritage Council.
Some famous guests have graced its floors, including former US president Herbert Hoover, who wrote in its historic guestbook. Hoover, who would later become the thirty-first president of the United States, was in Australia working as a mining engineer.
The pub occupies a 957sqm lot, with floor area of 822sqm providing public bar, bar-dining room, lounge-dining room, TAB, commercial kitchen, alfresco areas at the front and rear, and ten accommodation rooms with shared facilities and a guest lounge. A manager’s apartment offers a private lounge, bathroom, kitchen and bedroom.
The property also includes an office, garage and storage rooms.
Coupled with the sale, there is also another 310sqm block behind the Hotel, on a separate title, available for $450,000.
Russell Poliwka bought the historic pub in 1990, through his investment trust First Western Realty, and believes its potential is exponential.
The current lease will end in the middle of the year and will not be renewed, which will allow investors to reposition the Albany landmark.
“It’s structurally sound but requires a purchaser with the capability to restore it to its former glory,” said Poliwka.
